Magnesium Supplements

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Hi Ladies

I've been reading a lot of ladies' posts about insomnia and restlessness at bedtime.  I'm murder:  my legs seem to have a mind of their own, they're all over the place!

I think I probably sleep better some nights than I imagine. But I suppose as I can sometimes get up for a wee up to 5 times a night at certain times of the month, I deem 2 trips to the bathroom in the night a good kip!

Well someone suggested Magnesium Citrate to help with insomnia.  I did a little Google research and found it could be good for a myriad of my Peri symptoms, not least the restless legs and bouts of insomnia.

My husband and son are pretty fit and go to the gym 4 times a week. Both have had occasional bouts of cramp and now my ol' man has a problem just above his achilles tendon area (hoping its a torn muscle above). 

Well, my point here is that it would appear that Magnesium may help them with their problems too! 

I'm taking Menopace Originial for B&D Vits.  Notice it has 100mg of Magnesium too.  I read that women's RDA for Magnesium is 350mg, so I'll supplement my Menopace dose with the tablets I got today.

Oh, and before I forget, it also talks about helping digestive transit, which is great seeing as most every month I change my name to Mrs Constipated.  At this rate I'll be swinging from the chandalier in no time!!lol

I'll report back in a week or so to give it time to work - or not. Be nice to hear from anyone else who's had good results with Magnesium.

Sx

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  • Posted

    oh its not fair, im always constipated and i been taking magnesium, they dont make me go is it supposed to be good for that.Also i been getting shoulder/collerbone pain can hardly take a deep breth in,do you think this could be a side effect.

    Thanks ladies x

    • Posted

      From one constipated 'Sista' to another: you have my total sympathy!  Just stopped taking the magnesium as I wasn't sure if it was that or my Period that was giving my such a gut ache.  I'll start it again sometime next week to check.

      Funny, I've just read about someone else who was talking about your same pain and breathing problems. (Sorry I've just deleted the message, but maybe have a look on here to see if anyone replies). 

      One thing I'll say about the magnesium: I wasn't constipated for long!smile

    • Posted

      Difficult breath and sore muscles and bones are both very related to peri.  Magnesium never caused me pain, on the contrary. And as I said to Shaznay, magnesium does not make me "go", if I am constipated. But because of peri, my watch has ajdjusted, somehow.  Still some days, I am back to my old "retentive" self, lol.
    • Posted

      Trudy -- there are some kinds of magnesium that have a less laxative effect -- Magnesium glycinate, magnesium taurate, magnesium malate, and dimagnesium malate.   I wonder if you're using one of those forms?  I take the magnesium citrate (it's powder and you mix it with water) at night before bed, and I'm now NEVER constipated, and I definitely was quite frequently before starting with the mag citrate.

      Didn't see the post about the breathing issues -- but I found when researching supplements that one of the things that happens when you're iron deficient is you get out of breath really easily.  I was gettting winded doing ordinary stuff like vacuuming and it was kind of freaking me out since that was a "new" problem.  I started taking iron supplements and vitamin C and now my breathing is totally back to normal. 

    • Posted

      Great advice! My dear ol' mum use to take what I know recognise as magnesium sulphate in the from of Epsom salts every morning.

      She was always taking something that I deemed 'odd' for something, being she was born in 1920 and the NHS wasnt yet established and basic meds were few and far between. But it worked so I suppose sometimes we really do need to go back to basics. Got my nan to thank I suppose!!

      As soon as I read your connecting breathlessness to low iron, a light bulb went off in my head! I read that years ago and obviously forgot. Makes sense as I'd imagine most of us women are low in iron by the very fact we're bleeding heavily each month.

      Also I'd say women's' constant 'dieting' doesn't help: don't eat this/avoid that/carbs are the enemy/go veggie. Probably worse one was avoid 'fats/have low fat everytjing' when we actually need good oils/fats to motabolse certain mins/vits. Low fat = high sugar which is our real enemy sad! We're all guilty of that!!

      Worse part of taking iron supplements for me?.......you guessed it - good ol' constipation!!! When I was pregnant I refused iron supps as I was more than happy to 'eat' my iron, including liver (wh

      ich I believe they'd tell you to avoid now during pregnancy (Vit K issue??). I was at my most healthiest while pregnant, I loved it unlike everyone of my sisters/mates :-) !!

      I'm gonna refresh myself with info on iron-rich foods. Plus Zinc - I know thats good for men's health but hey, I'll give anything a g

      o!!

      Thanks for posting some great advice justlease :-)

    • Posted

      Sorry girls, this f***king tablet and predictive text! I swear this thing causes me more grief that that!!!Grrrrrr
    • Posted

      i was gonna say about the iron supplements causing constipation in pregnancy.

      its scarey that we're all in the dark searching for answers.

      be careful what you take in your quest to get well.

      in the last few days i thought to myself, if my gynnos dont think my pain will be cured after the polypectomy i had 12 days ago and the gastro people say my CtT scan was clear, what am i to think.

      maybe i have a stone trapped in my ureter.

      so i put myself on a diet of herbal tea (origano, thyme and sage) and in between drink of lemon juice with olive oil and hot water.

      yesterday i had the mother of all headaches and every joint ached.

      not one of my better theories.! but for all to read on the internet.

      today i've had a gin and tonic (with a token slice of lemon)

      bugger it.

       

    • Posted

      HI thanks for info, these are the ones im taking havent got any of what you said in them Magnesium Oxide, Dicalcium Phosphate Dihydrate, Acacia Gum, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Hydroxy Propyl Methyl Cellulose, Magnesium Stearate,but i have read that some are cheap and dont act as goodas others xx
  • Posted

    Shaz,

    I was worried when I got the iron tablets (18mg) they would make me constipated, but apparently I'm taking enough magnesium to sort of cancel it out, I guess.  I take the iron tablet and a vit c tablet at lunch, and the magnesium at night. 

    I did initially try a lower dose iron in the form of iron water.  It comes in little packets that you can either drink by themselves, or add to orange juice.  I didn't care for the taste it left in my mouth though which took a long time to go away, so that's when I decided to experiment with the tablets.

    I agree about all the dieting is probably contributing to all these deficiencies.  Eat this, don't eat that, exactly.  And, like you said, the heavy bleeds definitely don't help either! 

    I had to get one of those pill boxes with the days of the week listed on them in order to keep track.  The one I have is also separated into Morn, Noon, Eve and Bed.  So, at the start of the week, I sit down with all my supplements and fill up the sections for each day.  I'd never remember if I'd taken the supplements for that day or not without this pill box.  It works brilliantly. 

    I feel like I have most of my peri symptoms fairly well sorted with the combination of supplements I take.  I feel about 90% better than I had been feeling for more than a year.  I still have the occasional hot flash, but no more panic attacks, palps, exhaustion and insomnia.  Those were the things that were most troubling for me.

    Now if I could only figure out how to get the yucky chin/neck hairs to stop popping out.  (You know the ones that you only notice when you're in the car looking in the rearview mirror when you don't have any tweezers with you!)

    --Lisa

    • Posted

      sometimes theres the whisker thats in a place you cant see.

      when you do notice it, its got really long and you thinkOMG all the places i,ve been and so diligently put my slap on and thought i was the bees nees.

      why didnt at least my man tell me.

      because they dont observe every bit of your body like they used to.

      (just as well)

      dont do what i,ve done and got the mother of all magnifying mirrors.

      its horrifying !

    • Posted

      Oh, that rings bells with me! I had a bad cold the other week and didn't look in the mirror for several days. Oh the whiskery horror of it! And yes I have a magnifying mirror too: it's like weeding the craters of the moon. Aargh. Good to share these things though.
    • Posted

      Great minds think alike!

      I'm not great with my 'commitment' to taking meds, but have developed a deep affection to my Menopace and will defo take them as though my life depends on it - actually I believe my quality of life actually does!

      Hence I had thought the 'med box' to be a great idea. So well done you! Must certainly make it so much easier on the really 'confused' days - I get them and can question myself 'Have I done this/t taken that/what's her name again??'!

      Being the original 'Iron Lady' re: my gut, the Jury's still out for me with the iron supps. Bit more research for me because I spend a lot of time thinking about No2s. I should keep a log (sorry' journal' didn't seem quite as appropriate here!).

      Not finding the chin hairs.... yet. But the first thing I thought of was watching my very glamorous mum-in-law dive into her handbag and get out her tweezers - plucking away while we were mid-conversation :-) !!

      Off out to get my med box!

      Sx

    • Posted

      Shaz,

      I wasn't so great with taking the meds either, hence the box!  I had all the little bottles on my desk, and I knew I was supposed to be taking them at different times, etc, and then some days I'd think, "I need to take ___" and then the phone would ring or I'd get distracted and not remember if I just thought to take something or if I actually DID take it.  My dear funny grandmother would call that CRS.  (Can't remember s**t.)

      Funny you should mention the journal -- Just this weekend I found a beautiful leather bound journal someone had given me as a gift and that has been sitting blank for a long time.  I'd been keeping track of my cycles on my calendar, but I thought I'd start writing down in this journal what supplements I'd taken that day, and how I felt.  Ie, any hot flashes, any aches and pains, other symptoms, etc.  That way I could track better the patterns.  I think I shall start today!

      I think it's time to get another set of tweezers that can live in my handbag so when I discover an errant hair when I am out and about I can actually do something about it instead of ineffectually trying to pull it out with my fingernails. 

      Your comment re your "log" made me laugh out loud, literally. smile

      --Lisa

    • Posted

      Lisa

      Sounds like you grandmother and my mum would have been a tour de force!!!

      The thing is, and I suppose its worth remembering, although we can all buy these vits and min supplements over the counter - even in Poundland!! - they've still got to be taken sensibly. 

      I do mean it when Isay I hate taking meds. I also hate going to the doctors, the hairdressers and having internals!  (there's a joke there somewhere, but I won't go there today!).   Dentists:  put them equal to internals!

      As a result, I've always just got on with it when I've been ill. I have been bloody lucky not to have had one single serious illness in my life.  But I tell you what, I could be dying of ANYTHING and I'll have an over-the-counter remedy for it at any one timelollol!

      I think the daily/weekly meds box will be great: no double dosing and going off on one for you then?!

      You say 'hot flashes' - I say 'flushes' - I take it you're in the US??  Either side of the Pond, they're a bloody nightmare.  I don't have them (yet!) but I do giggle when I see my sister (62) with sweat on her moustache! Get my own back for all the wind-ups she did to me as kidscheesygrin!

      Sx

    • Posted

      Shaz, 

      Yes--you guessed it, I am in the US.  What happens to me when I'm having a "flash" (or power surge as my mum calls them) is first I feel this strange little 'clunk' in my chest and then about 5 seconds later, I get this tingling sensation in my scalp, which then spreads down into my face, and then throughout my whole body--down my arms and legs.  I start to feel very hot, and immediately have to take off a layer or two, and if it's cold outside (which it very much is here in Boston) I'll go open the door to outside and stand there for a few minutes until the feeling subsides. I don't get very sweaty (thank goodness), but I do get this sensation where if I'm talking when this happens, I have to pause and think about what I'm saying--it's like I forget my words.  The most irriatating thing about all this is they generally happen to me while I'm fixing the evening meal.   I used to LOVE to cook, but standing in front of a hot stove/oven seems to bring these on.  There was a time where I was having several of these episdoes daily for my entire cycle besides when I actually had my period.  They would mysteriously go away then, and I'd just have the usual cramps/lower back pain which was actually a welcome relief from the flashes.  

      Anyway, these flashes used to be accompanied by a panic attack/feelings of terrible doom and really rapid heart beats, or my heart would feel like it was going to pound out of my chest.  That was terrifying.  Now, since I started on this supplement regimin (B complex (b12, b6, biotin, folic acid), magesium, iron, vit c, vit d and recently introduced maca, too), I still get little flashes, but they might happen only one every few days, and there's no more panic, no more sheer terror,  no more pounding heart, none of that awfulness.  It's just the tingly scalp, hot feeling in my face and body, and then in about a minute I'm back to normal.  Half the time by the time I get off my sweater (jumper?) and go open the door, I'm feeling normal again. 

      I agree with you that before you start taking anything, you've really got to do your research.  Find out if anything you've heard about interacts negatively with anything you've been prescribed, find out the side effects, find out how many mgs you should take, find out what the best form of whatever you're thinking of trying out is.  Also, don't just start taking the whole lot all at once because then you can't tell if you're feeling worse what is causing that, or if you're improving, what is causing that, too.  Introduce things one at a time.

      Well, I'm off to take my mom to a doc's appt.  Expecting that they'll try to rush us in and out and not listen to a single thing either of us have to say....but wish me luck!

      -Lisa

       

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